“I write not because I have the strength to write, but because I do not have the strength to remain silent.” -Rav Avraham Yitzchok Kook zt’l

Category Archives: Salanter

There are some things that most of us take for granted. Things that we are so accustomed to that we can’t think of life without them. Electricity, cell phones, shoes, shampoo, indoor plumbing, silverware…these are just random examples. In 1877 Rabbi Yisrael (Lipkin) Salanter zt’l (his yahrtzeit is today, the 25th of Shevat) started the Kovno Kollel. Not only did he start it, but, to quote from Tenuas HaMussar, The Mussar Movement, by R Dov Katz zt’l:

He [Rabbi Yisrael Salanter] established a special fund, supported by the affluent Kovno residents, from which a regular, monthly stipend was allocated to each couple or family to enable them to live comfortably and respectably. This, too, was a complete novelty; it became the norm for the Kollelim, either of Avrechim (i.e. those living with their families) and Perushim (who lived apart from their families while they studied), which later came into existence, and enabled Yeshiva students to pursue advanced studies after marriage.

Many of those who have taught me and taught my own children have spent time learning in kollel and we both owe gratitude to Rabbi Salanter’s vision and hard work.

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I took the two photographs above while walking on the “Bloomingdale Trail” in Chicago. This unused 2.7 miles of elevated railroad tracks and footpaths is slated to become a park and trail system connecting four neighborhoods by fall of 2014 (similar to the High Line in NYC).

I recently took my son and two close friends of his to walk the “Bloomingdale”. It was so cool to be walking 16 feet above street level and getting a very unique perspective of Chicago. We walked over and next to parks, streets, schools, old factory buildings, and residential areas for about 30 minutes. On a second trip there, last week, I walked the entire stretch of 2.8 miles from beginning to end and back again. It was on this excursion that found the two abandoned trains. They had been left there and over the years had become part of the urban landscape. I had wanted to walk the entire Bloomingdale Trail prior to it’s face-lift and reconstructive surgery.

These abandoned tracks and the footpaths made by joggers and bicyclists will loose some of their character when the city of Chicago transforms them into park area and trails. As I looked at and examined the these two sets of train cars I reflected on how they, at one time, served a purpose holding cargo of one type or another, but without an engine pulling them they were rendered non-functional. I thought about myself and how I can have big grand ideas and projects in my mind, but if they are not “attached” to an action plan or any measurable movement, then they are just plans, sitting abandoned on a railroad track.

Hislamdus, teaching oneself/learning from things, is key for those who try to invest time in working on themselves. This is what I was doing with the train cars. As I walked back to my entry point (which involved climbing through a cut out passageway in a fence) I was reminded of a something taught by Rav Yisrael Salanter. When he first observed the railroad system he was able to extract three important lessons: If you come late, you will miss the train; if the train jumps the rail, then all of the cars might overturn; a person without a ticket cannot board the train.

“…he employed every means at his disposal to guard his son [Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin] against straying from Judaism. He journeyed specially to St. Petersburg to extract a three-fold promise: that his son should observe Shabbat, refrain from eating trefah food, and not shave. He would say that were he able to disguise himself as a woman, he would go to work in the restaurant patronized by his son, so as to supervise the kashurt. He also requested R. Isacc Blazer, then rabbi in St. Petersburg, by mail, to keep an eye on the son. In this way, he said, the son remained a loyal Jew.”

While it obviously pained Rav Yisrael that this child (one of four sons and a daughter) strayed from the traditional path, the founder of the Mussar movement made great attempts to not only help his son while he was in university and afterwards, but that he never stopped loving Yom Tov. I have only been a father for 12 years and I know that my children don’t always see eye-to-eye with me, just like I didn’t always see things eye-to-eye with my father a”h, but the bond of love never is severed.

This Shabbos Kodesh, the 25th of Shvat, is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter zt’l. This was prepared in zechus of a refuah shelayma for Reuven ben Tova Chaya and Miriam Orit bas Devorah.A downloadable pdf version is available here.

Middos of Rabbi

Yisrael Salanter

אמתTruth

זריזות Alacrity

חריצות Diligence

כבודHonor

מנוחת Tranquility

נחת Gentleness

נקיון Cleanliness

סבלנות Patience

סדר Order

ענוה Humility

צדק Justice

קמוץ Thrift

שתיקה Silence

אמת – שלא להוציא מן הפה דבר שאין הלב מעיד על אמיתותו.

Truth– Never speak a word unless your heart can testify to its truth.

Do the words we speak to others clearly reflect the feelings in our heart? It is vital that when we talk with our friends or family members we open up ourselves and show them who we really are. Our heart serves as a witness to what we say and who we are. The gemara in Yoma 69b states that Hashem’s “seal” is אמת, truth. By committing to speak the truth in all matters, we are connecting to Hashem in a very powerful way.

זריזות-שלא לבטל רגע לבטלה. כן לעשות מה שדרוש לעשות.

Alacrity– Never waste a single moment; do what has to be done.

Do you grab moments in life or do they slip away? This middah is about grabbing the opportunities that Hashem puts in front of us when it comes our way. When it comes to doing what has to be done, it’s all about priorities. Some things are clearly not as important to do as others. The sefer Orchos Tzaddikim says that we learn alacrity from Avraham. Before the Akeida, he “woke up early in the morning” (Bereishis 22:3). We are not just talking about mitzvos, though. We have to approach daily tasks with this same energy. It can be emails in your inbox, dishes in the sink, an assignment in school, or laundry. Things need to be accomplished in a timely fashion.

חריצות – לעשות מה שהוחלט לעשות בשקידה וברגש.

Diligence– Do what you have determined to do and do it with feeling.

How long is your “to do” list? If you are like most people, just when you take one thing off your list, two more are written down. While the previous middah dealt with doing what has to be done in a timely manner, this is different. This middah is more about actualizing your decisions by following through. We can make plans to exercise, start dieting, or even to learn more Torah, but for many these are just “plans”. Making up my mind is only step one. Step two is to make it happen. Rabbi Yisrael teaches us the secret to following step two. He says, “Do it with feeling.” To take an idea or make a decision and bring it into this world is a powerful thing. When we are passionate about what we try to do, we are that much closer to success.

כבוד – להיזהר בכבוד כל אדם ואפילו של זה שאין אנו תמימי דעה עמו.

Honor: Be careful to treat all people with honor, even those with whom you have little in common.

Do you treat everyone you know with honor? The idea behind this middah is that everyone is created in the image of Hashem, even if we don’t like them. This means that we have to recognize that their neshama (soul) is connected to Hashem. We all know sometimes it’s easier to be nice to strangers in a store than it is with those that we live with. To be known as a nice person on the street isn’t a big deal. Being a nice person when we enter the front door of our homes is much more difficult. There are people you meet in life that you simply find it difficult to connect with or even get along with. They might be more or less observant than you, daven somewhere else, or have totally different values than you do. We can’t forget that they are also created by Hashem.

מנוחה – מנוחת הנפש, לבלי היות מבוהל ולעשות כל דבר במנוחה.

Tranquility: Find an inner calmness; do not be overwhelmed; always act with deliberation.

Do you find time to relax and chill out? The middah of menucha, or tranquility, is an important and overlooked trait. We are all so concerned about staying connected and running from place to place that it’s easy to forget that we need to have a feeling of calmness within us. Rabbi Salanter urges us not to get overwhelmed with life, especially with problems that arise. If I start out with a sense of balance within me, then it’s easier not get overwhelmed and panic stricken. When we feel the pressure of having too much to do, we find it difficult to make decisions. This is why it’s suggested to “always act with deliberation.”

נחת – דברי חכמים בנחת נשמעים, ולכן השתדל לדבר כן.

Gentleness: The wise speak in a gentle manner; always try to speak softly.

When do find yourself shouting? The Ramban, in his famous letter, instructs his son to, “Get into the habit of always speaking calmly to everyone.” Speaking to others gently allows you to not only be heard, but to listen to another person. When we get aggravated and raise our voice, usually someone will do the same. We end up yelling so loud that we can’t even hear the other person or their side of the story. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter is teaching us that that our words are powerful. Everyone has been hurt by something that someone has said to them. While physical abuse is outwardly more apparent, verbal abuse hurts us on the inside. Sharp words hurt. Softly spoken words can hurt too, but might be better received.

ניקיון – ניקיון וטהרה בגופו ובבגדיו.

Cleanliness: Attain cleanliness and purity in body and clothing.

How do you appear to other people? This isn’t a lesson in my hygiene and appearance. It’s about how the outside world views me. If I recognize that my neshama was given to me my Hashem, then that needs to be reflected in how I present myself in the world. If we look in the mirror and are happy with what we see, it means something. Our outer appearance needs to reflect our inner appearance. The type of Jew we are at home should also be the type of Jew we are when we are not at home. If we really are children of the King of Kings, then how we carry ourselves and dress should reflect that honor.

סבלנות – לסבול במנוחה כל מקרה וכל פגע בחיים.

Patience: Calmly confront every situation and absorb each occurrence in life.

Is there someone that eats away your patience? The root of the Hebrew word for patience means load or burden (based on Alei Shur by Rabbi Shlomo Volbe zt’l). Being a patience person means that see the whole picture, the parts we like and parts we don’t like. We might not like the person we are dealing with or a specific situation, but we carry that with us. Sometimes I’ll notice myself getting impatient and just stop what I’m doing and count backwards from 30 to 1. That usually helps me. We have to remember that challenges and difficulties are like a computer virus. If you stop them early, you can save your operating system.

סדר – לעשות כל מעשה ועניין בסדר ובמשטר.

Orderliness: Carry out your responsibilities in all aspects in an orderly fashion.What happens when you don’t follow your GPS directions in order? We all know it is important to follow the correct directions or we’ll get lost. No matter if it’s a school report, project for work, a recipe for dinner, or the way to perform a mitzvah, there’s an order that has to be followed. It’s easy to get frazzled quickly when responsibilities stack up. This is why we have to have to know what needs to be done first. Pirkei Avos (5:7) states that one of the seven characteristics of a wise person is that, “He responds to first things first and to latter things later.” This is a simple, yet practical application of the middah of orderliness.

ענוה – להכיר חסרונות עצמו ולהסיח דעת ממומי חברו.

Humility: Recognize your own shortcomings and disregard those of your fellow man.Do you know anyone that thinks they are always right? According to Rabbi Salanter, the first step in attaining humility is realizing our own strengths and weaknesses. We all excel in certain things and there are other areas that we need to work on. It’s important to remember this when dealing with others. We all need to learn to see the positive things in others. Each time we deal with someone, we need to stop looking at their shortcomings and see the positive things that we can learn from others. By doing this we can grow into the person we are meant to be.

צדק – כפשוטו וכדרשתו: ‘וותר משלך’.

Righteousness: In its most basic form; and also to be to “forgo your own interests”.Are justice and righteousness the same thing? Both can only be measured by a set standard. In our lives, that standard is Hashem’s Torah. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter says that we have “to be willing to even give up things that can benefit us. This could include: a parking spot, your seat in shul, the last delicious brownie, giving a smile or a kind work to another person. Rabbi Salanter’s great-grandson, Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler zt’l, took this concept of giving and taught that there are two types of people in the world, givers and takers. Being a giver is truly a righteous thing.

קמוץ – שלא להוציא פרוטה שלא לצורך.

Thrift: Do not spend even a penny unnecessarily

Do we purchase what we need or what we want? This is a very different middah than the previous ones, because it directly related to so something material. How we spend our money gives us is an indication of what we value. We need to realize that every dollar and every penny is ultimately given to us by Hashem and we should be careful about how we spend it. There is nothing wrong with working hard and owning things that you feel you deserve. However, affluence isn’t everything. It’s what we do with our money that demonstrates the quality of who we are. As it states in Eruvin 65b: A person is recognized through three things – his Kos (how he acts after drinking), his Ka’as (anger), and his Kis (wallet or how he spends).שתיקה – יחשוב את התועלת שבדבריו קודם שידבר.

Silence: Think about the benefit of your words before you say them.

How often do you say something without really thinking about it? Words reveal our thoughts and allow us to connect with others. We talk, text, email, constantly, connecting with others. We need to think about what we say and how those words can help another person. A kind word or show of thanks is an extremely powerful force. When praying, we also are using the power of speech. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter’s final middah challenges each of us to think about the gift of speech. When we communicate with someone, we need to realize that we are revealing part of our neshama, that which is connected to Hashem, the source of all truth.

This publication was written in merit of a complete recovery for Reuven ben Tova Chaya and Miriam Orit Bas Devorah and in conjunction with the yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter zt’l (25th of Shevat)

The Hebrew text for the 13 middos is based on written accounts about Rabbi Yisrael Salanter printed in the sefer Mikor Baruch by Rabbi Baruch Epstein zt”l, page 1111.

Last Tuesday, January 31, 2012 the following story about Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was included in a letter to the editor of the Palm Beach Post (no, I don’t read this paper, but the link showed up in my Google Alert for “Salanter”).

So, I emailed to people, whom I consider to be fairly well versed in the teaching of R Yisrael Salanter to see if they had heard of this story. Both were not familar with it.

Now, there’s a quote from R Yisrael Salanter that states, “”Promote yourself, but do not demote another.” This idea behind this quote seems similar to the story above, however it’s not an exact fit.

Over Shabbos I happened to find the quote below on page 123 of R L Oschry’s translation of Tnuas HaMussar, “The Mussar Movement” by R Dov Katz. This seems like the missing piece of the puzzle.

To surpass someone else, one must not dig a pit for him, but build a higher platform for oneself.

Update: A message was sent me regarding the story printed in the Palm Beach Post and I’d like to clarify that the story is, most likely, apocryphal. Most probably it was created around the quote above.

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Seeing a boy in shul yesterday run towards the aron kodesh to kiss the Torah and knock over a chair (almost into two people) reminded me of this saying by R Yisrael Salanter:A person can rush to do a mitzvah and destroy the whole world in his path.

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One day in Vilna he [Rabbi Israel Salanter] was seen discussing trivialities with a Vilna resident, even trying to amuse him by telling jokes. Passers by were astonished. They knew very well that R. Israel weighed his words very carefully and would not utted a superfluous syllable. Yet here he was engaging in idle chatter and apparently joking without any restraint. At an opportune moment one of his disciples asked him the reason for his unusual behavior on that occasion. R. Israel answered that the person with whom he had been seen was in a depressed state of mind, and that there was no greater act of chessed [kindess] than to cheer up a downcast human being and revive his spirits.

He would also adopt this same attituted to his own family. Whenever anyone became downhearted, he would recall amusing episodes of his life to allay their anxieties and make them happy. (Told by his aged granddaughter, Chana Leah Rogovin) – From Tenuas Hamussar (The Mussar Movement) by R Dov Katz